November, 1914. 



375 



American IBee Journal 



lots granulate, I have either been too 

 stupid to notice it or else I have never 

 had any granulate in feeding thousands 

 of pounds of this mixture in the last 

 10 or more years. I have been care- 

 fully examining a couple of colonies 

 that were fed heavily, and I can find no 

 cells granulated. 



I told friend McKinnon in a 

 private letter, that although money 

 was scarce around this ranch the pres- 

 ent season, I would undertake to give 

 him a nickel for each granulated cell 

 he could find. Notwithstanding all I 

 have said on this question, not for a 

 moment do I believe otherwise but that 

 friend McKinnon's syrup did granulate. 

 I would like to know though what 

 was the reason. 



Absorbents Over Brood-Chamber 



In regard to the discussion on page 

 332, about absorbents over the brood- 

 chamber for outdoor wintering, regard- 

 less of all the pros and cons from a 

 scientific standpoint, the question is 

 pretty well settled here in Ontario. A 

 very few profess to prefer the sealed 

 cover over hives, but by far the greater 

 number of beekeepers who practice 

 outdoor wintering would not think of 

 risking a perfectly tight cover over the 

 top of the frames. 



There is no question but that bees 

 will often winter all right when thus 

 prepared, but experience has shown a 

 good many of us that they winter in 

 spite of this handicap rather than be- 

 cause of any benefit from the practice. 

 On the other hand, I have yet to see a 

 single case where a lirnited amount 

 ( f upward ventilation did any harm, 

 while on the contrary I have seen 

 hives thus prepared where bees win- 

 tered splendidly in exceptionallysevere 

 winters, when others with sealed cov- 

 ers perished on all sides of th 'm. 



Cooperative Fruit Business 



Much has been said in the past as to 

 the benefits that accrue to the bee- 

 keepers if they were all organized on a 

 cooperative basis, and while most of 

 this talk as yet is but speculation, there 

 seems to be no question but that the 

 cooperative movement has been a huge 

 success with the fruit men of the west- 

 ern States in particular. 



This year the peach crop was almost 

 a total failure here in Ontario; only a 

 comparatively small part of the pro- 

 vince grows peaches on a commercial 

 basis. This failure of the crop locally 

 gave an opening to other producing 

 areas, and I have just had the pleasure 

 and novelty of buying a box of Elberta 

 " 70's," sent out by the United Fruit 

 Co , of Delta, Colo. To be more ex- 

 plicit in the address of the grower of 

 this particular box of peaches, the sten- 

 cilling says, " Surface Creek Peaches, 

 Benita Ranch, Eckert, Colo." The 

 box was a triumph in the art of pack- 

 ing for long distances, and every peach 

 was in perfect condition and wrapped 

 in paper. Our local fruit man told me 

 he had sold 400 boxes of Colorado 

 peaches and guaranteed not only every 

 bo.x but ez'oy peach. 



We were unanimous in praising the 

 condition and /oo/;s of the fruit, but 

 just as unanimous in deciding that 



they do not nearly equal the Ontario 

 peach for eating qualities either out of 

 the hand or after being canned. If it 

 is of any interest to our Colorado 

 friends who may see this item, I might 

 add thi-t the box cost us $12.5 at our 

 nearest town. In Toronto the same 

 fruit was retailing at $1.10. It might 

 also be interesting to know how much 

 of that total went to the grower, rail- 

 roads, commission men, etc. 



Wintering On Aster Honey 



Since sending the last batch of notes 

 for the American Bee Journal we have 

 had a month of beautiful weather, 

 much warmer than usual for the time 

 of year. Bees in York county have 

 been carrying in a little pollen right 

 along, and the apiary loO miles north 

 has literally jammed each brood-nest 

 with honey from asters and other fall 

 flowers. While most of this honey is 

 sealed, nevertheless we shall be a bit 

 anxious as to results in wintering, as 

 aster honey has had a bad record in 

 northern latitudes where bees go for 

 months without a flight. At least two- 

 thirds of all the honey in the hives in 

 question is first-class, as it was stored 

 early in th ; season. The trouble is 



that this late honey will be used first 

 and at a time of the year when the 

 bees are not likely to fly for thrive or 

 four months after it is consumed. 



Some have suggested that we ex- 

 tract a lot of this honey and feed 

 sugar, which we had at the yard in an- 

 ticipation of feeding before this late 

 flow surprised us. But after October 

 comes in Ontario it is not a nice mat- 

 ter extracting out of the brood-nest, 

 as the bees are hard to get from the 

 combs, and seem to be in a sort of 

 sluggish condition peculiar to the ap- 

 proach of cold weather. Then there is 

 great danger of starting up robbing 

 by giving back sticky combs at this 

 time of the year, not to mention the 

 danger of losing queens when hand- 

 ling bees at this unseasonable time. 



Let results i)e what they may, it is 

 now too late to do anything, and while 

 I would have nofears from solid sealed 

 stores that I was sure were all right, 

 this year we have the unique experi- 

 ence of having an apiary of 2.50 colo- 

 nies going into winter quarters literally 

 solid and no feeding being done. As 

 to quality of the stores, no doubt we 

 will be in a better position to speak on 

 this matter next spring than we are 

 now. 



Wii.DER's Method of "Cleaning" Cappings of Honf.v 



Conducted by Wesley Foster. Boulder. Colo 



Government Aid in Marketing 



The Post-office Department has un- 

 dertaken to bring the producer and 

 consumer closer together in this way. 

 In certain designated cities the farmers 

 with produce to sell, list their names. 



address and articles they have foi sale 

 with the postmaster, who, in turn, dis- 

 tributes this list free of charge among 

 the city dwellers by means of the mail 

 carriers. In this way if you have honey 

 or apples, potatoes or cabbage for sale 

 you can let the people in the cities 



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